Heart of Glass
by Love Still Stands
Summary: When Chuck and Blair babysit Dorota's children together, a bedtime story leads them to an important conversation about their relationship - and their future. Fluffy with a touch of angst.


**Author's Note: **I've had this idea in my head for ages and finally got it down on paper (well, MacBook) at the weekend. It's very fluffy and a little angsty (flangsty?), and it's a belated Valentine to all the amazing Chair fans I know. Love you guys!

** Heart of Glass**

Impossibly dapper in a dark suit, Chuck drummed his fingers on the leather armrest of the limo, thinking through his plan for the night ahead. Dinner at La Victoire, dancing under the stars, fireworks over the Manhattan skyline – no, he _definitely_ hadn't overlooked anything. Tonight was not a birthday or an anniversary, but his and Blair's first evening alone together in weeks felt like something worth celebrating. It would be a little over-the-top, of course, but then subtlety had never been Chuck Bass' strong suit.

A text alert brought Chuck back to the present, and (as always) his heart leapt a little when he saw Blair's name. He could never understand what people meant when they talked about "the seven year itch". It had been eight years since he'd first kissed her, but his feelings for her were as eternal and unchanging as one and one adding up to two. Chuck + Blair = butterflies.

"So sorry honey, but I have to babysit tonight. I'm at the Waldorf penthouse. Come join me? Bx"

Disappointed, but still looking forward to seeing her, Chuck texted back:

"Of course. Pillow fight? Cx"

"You'll lose. I was the five-time Constance Billard pillow fight champion. Bx"

"That…does not surprise me. See you in 10. Cx"

* * *

><p>Blair greeted him at the elevator with a smile and a kiss. Chuck thought she looked exceptionally lovely, with her hair down in loose waves, dressed in a simple tweed skirt and one of his cashmere jumpers. The only razzle-dazzle on her whole person was the spectacular diamond ring on her left hand.<p>

"I hate that I had to cancel on our big date. Dorota and Vanya are both really sick, and Vanya's sister can't pick them up until tomorrow morning." She sighed, running her hands over the fabric of his perfectly-tailored jacket. "You look so handsome in your Savile Row. I had the perfect Prada dress picked out as well."

"It's okay, we can do it some other time. All that matters is that I get to see you."

"You saw me this morning. You did more than see me, actually."

"I know." They both grinned at the memory. "But it's never enough, is it?"

"No," Blair said tenderly. "It's never enough." She slid the jacket off Chuck's shoulders and hung it up, then undid his tie and the top button of his shirt. As her delicate fingers grazed his throat, their eyes met and for a moment they were utterly lost in each other.

Chuck came back to reality first, and quickly changed the subject.

"So...have Ana and Alex been behaving themselves?"

"They've been very good so far. Thank the Lord for Walt Disney."

They walked through to the living room, where a dark-haired girl and boy were sitting on the sofa, watching a movie on the Waldorfs' flatscreen.

"Chuck!" Anastasia shouted, running to him. He picked her up and swung her round, her long hair flying. "Have you come to see me?" she asked, sounding thrilled at the possibility.

Ana's obvious crush on Chuck was a great source of amusement to everyone. Serena made jokes about Ana going through her bad boy phase ten years early, but Blair could see why Ana adored him. The latest in the series of pleasant surprises that constituted dating - no, _being engaged to_ – Chuck Bass, was that he was genuinely wonderful with children.

"Yes, you and Alex." Alex, smaller and shyer than his sister, beamed at being included. "I'm helping Blair look after you two. I hope you've been behaving for your Auntie B."

He carried Anastasia to the sofa, placed her down carefully, and then sat down between the two children.

"And where am I supposed to sit, Chuck?" Blair asked in mock-annoyance.

Smiling innocently, Chuck nodded at his lap, but Blair opted instead to pick up Alex and place him on her knees.

"What are we watching, Ana?" Chuck asked.

"Cinderella of course! We just got to the part where the fairy godmother comes to help Cinderella so she can go to the ball."

Ana cuddled up to Chuck, the better to give him a running commentary on the story. Chuck slid an arm around Blair, whilst Blair hugged Alex, letting him hide his face in her jumper when he felt scared.

"Such a happy ending," said Ana an hour later, her eyes shining with tears. "The prince was so handsome."

Chuck rolled his eyes dramatically. Blair looked amused.

"It's a Disney film, Chuck. I wouldn't read too much into it."

"I'm not reading anything into it. I just know a better story, that's all."

"Oh really? Alex, Ana, how about we get you ready for bed, and then Chuck will tell you his story."

"Oh yes! Does it have a princess in it?" asked Ana.

"Does it have a monster?" asked Alex.

"Both. In a way, anyway." replied Chuck.

* * *

><p>A while later the children were both happily tucked up in bed in Serena's old room (Chuck had found soft toys for them, remembering that Ana preferred the rag doll and Alex liked the lion best). Blair sat cross-legged between Alex and Ana; Chuck in an armchair.<p>

"Where's the book?" Alex asked, confused.

"I don't need one," Chuck replied. "I know it by heart. One of my au pairs told it to me when I was your age, and I asked to hear it again and again. Are you ready?"

The children nodded enthusiastically. Blair smiled.

"Once upon a time, a monster invented a mirror that made beautiful things look stupid, and ugly things look even uglier. The monster dropped the mirror, and it broke into millions and millions of tiny pieces. When the pieces of glass got into people's hearts, their hearts froze and they could only see bad and ugly things."

"Kind of dark, Chuck. This _is_ a children's story, yes?" asked Blair. But the children looked enraptured, and so Blair sighed and motioned for Chuck to continue.

"A long time later, there was a boy and a girl who grew up together. They went to the same school and they knew everything about each other. But then one day a piece of the monster's mirror got into the boy's heart. The boy stopped caring about the girl because he could not see beautiful things any more, and he destroyed everything they had made together. The girl told him that she loved him and he didn't care."

Chuck looked at Blair and saw that she was watching him intently. They both knew that the story was becoming something else, but he felt that he needed to tell it, and that she needed to hear it.

"One day a witch came for the boy, and he was happy to go and live with her in a palace of ice, because his heart was made of ice too. The people in the town thought that the boy had drowned, and they gave up on him, but the girl would not give up. She searched everywhere and gave away everything she had to try to find him and bring him home.

"After many adventures the girl found the witch's palace of ice, and there she found the boy. He was very cold and very sick, and the girl was upset to see him so ill. She wept hot tears for him, which made the piece of glass fall from his heart. And once his heart was whole again, he remembered how much he loved the girl, and he thought he was going to burst open with happiness. And the girl kissed him again and again and he became warm and well again. And then they went home."

"That was a very sad story," said Ana.

"It had a happy ending," said Chuck.

"I think I like Cinderella better," said Alex.

"I don't," said Blair.

* * *

><p>A little while later, Blair and Chuck were snuggled up in bed in her old room. She'd found him some pyjamas that he'd left there the first time he'd stayed the night, that wonderful summer after graduation. ("Chuck, aren't you a little too young and a little too not-Hugh-Hefner for silk pyjamas?" "They're very Cary Grant, actually. And you're only complaining because you'd prefer it if I wore nothing at all. " "There might be...<em>some<em> truth in that statement…") Bizarrely - or, for them, typically - they perfectly matched the silk slip that Blair had brought with her.

"So, Chuck Bass, storyteller. Is there no end to your talents, Bass?"

"It's the only fairytale I ever really liked."

"I liked it too. You were great with them, Chuck. They adore you - Alex as well as Ana." Deliberately keeping her voice casual, she added, "you'll be wonderful with our children."

Chuck looked at her. "_Our_ children?"

"Of course. If you want them. You do – you do want them?"

"Yes. _So much_. But I guess I just thought that – I know how much it hurt you to lose Louis' baby. I wasn't sure that you'd want to try again."

"It did hurt. It still hurts sometimes. But I think that baby was just...not meant to be. But we are. Meant to be, I mean. Cyrus says we are 'bashert'."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Definitely. Undeniably."

A pause.

"Chuck, would you really have given up being a father to be with me?"

Chuck tried to keep his voice steady, and failed. "You brought me home."

Blair sat up and turned to face him. Her hand stroked his hair and the outline of his jaw, and she kissed him, very sweetly.

"It was worth it. Whatever the girl did – slaying dragons, fighting Vikings, whatever. The boy was worth it."

Chuck didn't know what to say, so he kissed her, his hands slipping around her waist and pulling towards him. Blair broke the kiss first, letting her head rest on his chest.

"I have to say, Chuck, I rather like the fact that your favourite fairytale has a girl as the hero."

"All the best stories do."

Chuck pulled her closer, holding her tightly. Totally comfortable in his embrace, hardly thinking, Blair added, "I wonder what happened to the piece of glass that the girl took out of the boy's heart."

Chuck took Blair's left hand and kissed it, just above the Harry Winston diamond. "Maybe he gave it back to her."


End file.
